What is The Arcanist?

The Arcanist is a student managed Literary Magazine based in Bloomington, Indiana. We are on a quest to find the best Fantasy has to offer. We want stories that challenge our convictions, paint new horizons, and put us in the shoes of someone in a land far, far away—be they glorious hero or humble villager. We want stories that are literary in nature, character driven, and leverage the Fantasy genre to create art.

We accept submissions from writers of all experience levels and read flash fiction, short fiction, serial fiction, and poetry. We are periodically interested in creative non fiction and art submissions. We enjoy stories set in the real world or in completely original settings.

Meet the Staff!

Editor-in-Chief: James D. Mills

James D. Mills was born and raised in the heat of California’s Central Valley. Now he resides in the lush, green city of Bloomington, Indiana, where he and his partner, Eden, live a slow life of cultivation and self-sufficiency alongside a menagerie of furry friends. He attends Southern New Hampshire University where he will soon earn his bachelor’s in creative writing and psychology.

His short fiction has been published by the Penmen Review, Floyd County Moonshine, and Calliope on the Web, among others.

​Find out more at: jamesdmills.com

Editor: Lee Patton

Lee Patton was born in 1990, and raised in Tea, a little town nestled in the verdant plains of eastern South Dakota. He is a Christian and United States Army veteran pursuing an education in creative writing and English. Lee has always been fascinated with mythic tales of gods and monsters, brave heroes and dark terrors. He is at home in the realm of fantasy, where anything is possible and the strength of faith and courage carry the day. Lee has a passion for learning and language and when not sending his heroes on harrowing adventures, he is reading, studying mythology, and learning the Russian language.

In fact, it is a love of Russian mythology and folklore that serves as the inspiration for Lee's current project The Golden Swan, a mystic tale of becoming about a young warrior, exiled from his home and hunted by a tyrant king and his sorcerer son, who must venture into mythic realms to gain the strength needed to destroy the evil that rules the land and to become the hero he was fated to be.

Reader: Juliette Wallace

Juliette Wallace was born in a small town in the bluegrass state of Kentucky where she still resides. She is a student at Southern New Hampshire University studying for her BA in Creative Writing and English. While in school, she’s also a teaching assistant for special education and a full-time mom.

Juliette has had a love for fantasy since a very young age, starting with the Harry Potter novels while she was in elementary school. Since then her passion for reading and writing has only grown. She is currently working on a fantasy novel and writes poetry several times a week.

During her free time, you can find her with a good book, a laptop, and a hot cup of coffee, or reading to her children and listening to the stories they’ve written themselves.